Tag Archives: Helmut Lachenmann

Solo Percussion Manifesto Volume I: Steven Schick’s “A Hard Rain”


Islandia IMR 011

Steven Schick is a multi-talented and skilled musician. A quick look at his website demonstrates the sheer scope of his musical career. He is probably best known as a master percussionist having played with the San Diego Symphony and a host of others internationally. He is also a fine conductor and composer. His website is a must visit to grasp the scope of this man’s work.

Steven Schick (photo from composer’s website)

Now, solo percussionists are somewhat of a rarity even in the 21st century. Percussion is ostensibly the “junk drawer” of the orchestra by which I mean it becomes the home to pretty much anything that doesn’t fit into the categories of keyboards, strings, woodwinds, and brass instruments. Anyone who has studied any theoretical taxonomy knows that you have to have a “junk drawer” (so to speak) to place things that don’t fit elsewhere at least until you can find a useful category in which to place them. The point here is that a solo percussionist has a huge amount of instruments from which to choose and subsequently master (some of which might also fit other categories like piano, harp, etc. but also things like taxi horns, for example, which Gershwin used in his tone poem, “An American in Paris”). Add to that the artists who regularly add instruments to this group and the task of mastering these becomes even more daunting.

Percussion, aside from tympani and the occasional military drum is largely absent from western music. That began to change with the work of Henry Cowell, John Cage, and Lou Harrison in the early 20th century. As interest grew, so did repertoire.

Despite attending many contemporary music concerts I cannot recall any by a single percussionist. Percussion ensembles began to appear in the early 20th century including Paul Price (1921-1986), Donald Knaack, and Les Percussions de Strasbourg. After 1962 or so the number of percussion ensembles increased along with a rapidly growing repertoire.

With this release Steven Schick begins what appears to be the first of a multi-volume survey of works for solo percussion under the collective title of “Weather Systems”. This first volume is subtitled, “A Hard Rain”, a two disc set that is both manifesto and innovation. It is released by Bang on a Can cellist Maya Beiser’s Islandia Records, not to be confused with the pop music Island Records.

Schick’s book on percussion published in 2006 is a sort of precursor to this CD release.

Here, Schick appears to be doing two related things. First, he is establishing a repertoire for the solo percussionist. And, second, he is presenting his own insights and ideas to both define and expand that repertoire. Having already released definitive recordings of percussion music by Xenakis and Stockhausen, among others, he is apparently ready to blaze a trail that will increase the possibility of hearing a solo percussion concert and establishing a canon of music for those concerts.

There are 7 works (3 by German composers, 4 by American composers) on these two discs largely focused on mid 20th century works and presented (mostly) in chronological order:

1. John Cage (1912-1992) 27’10.554” for a percussionist (1956) arguably one of the must difficult of the pieces here. It is more like a set of tasks than a conventional score and may be the first great solo percussion piece.

2. Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) Zyklus (1959) experimenting differently from Cage but producing a similarly difficult and masterful work.

3. Morton Feldman (1926-1987) “The King of Denmark” (1964) the second name in the self defined “New York School” of composers, this is about soft sounds and, like the Cage work, unconventionally scored.

4. Charles Wourinen (1938-2020) “Jannissary Music” (1966) a lifelong devotee of post Schoebergian 12 tone music manages to be relevant. And this one of his earliest masterpieces.

5. Helmet Lachenmann (1935- ) “Intérieur I” (1966), this is among the earliest acknowledged works by this prolific German composer.

6. William Hibbard (1939-1989) “Parson’s Piece” (1968), an early work by an artist who died in mid career.

7. Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) “Ursonate” (1922-1932). This realization of Schwitters’ spoken vocal score is a modern revisioning of this unusual dada-like work. Many recorded versions exist (including one by Schwitters) demonstrating a surprising diversity of interpretation, sometimes with visual components. This is actually pretty frequently performed but this is the first version explicitly designed with a percussionist in mind. It is here that Schick is at his most transgressional and creative. In addition to his percussion Schick includes his voice in the mix and teams with Sharokh Shadegari on electronics and voice. This is the only non-solo work on this set and it is a radically effective take on Schwitters’ strange opus.

All are engaging and all will thrill percussionists who work in new music as well as new music enthusiasts. It remains to be seen if solo percussion performances begin to proliferate but, after all, this is only volume one.

A Wonderful Survey of Helmut Lachenmann via his Clarinet Music


aestheticapp

New Focus FCR 196

Helmut Lachenmann (1935- ) is a composer who has been “on my radar” for some years now but, like a lot of names I get, I had yet to hear much of his music.  Along comes Gregory Oakes  from, of all places, Iowa.  The Midwest in the United States doesn’t have much of a reputation for embracing the avant garde (though they actually do).  So into the CD player goes this one and…wow, I really need to hear more Lachenmann and whoever this Oakes guy is I want to pay attention to what he is doing with that clarinet.
Admittedly this disc languished a bit before I heard it but I am now glad I did.

This disc consists of only three tracks comprising three works by this major German composer from three different periods in his career.  Dal Niente (Interiur III), Trio Fluido, and Allegro Sostenuto.

Dal Niente (1970) is for solo clarinet and, as the title prescribes, the music is to be played as “from nothing” the meaning of the title.  In fact this seems to be practically a textbook of extended techniques for the clarinet.  But far from being a dull accounting of dry techniques, this is a tour de force which will challenge the skills of even the most experienced players.  It is quite musical and listenable but the virtuosity will knock your socks off.  Oakes pulls it off with a deceptive ease that demonstrates his rather profound knowledge of his instrument.  It is easy to see the seeming cross pollination between the avant garde and free jazz here.

Next up is Trio Fluido (1966-68) which is a respectably avant garde trio for clarinet, viola, and percussion with Matthew Coley, percussion, and Jonathan Sturm, viola.  Like the previous work this one is also about extended techniques (for all three instruments this time).  This is a fine example of mid-twentieth century modernism and deserves a place in the repertoire.  All three musicians are challenged to play their instruments in unconventional ways and the effect is almost like some of the electronic music of the era.  It is a complex and pointillistic texture that has a strong and serious content.

Finally Allegro Sostenuto (1986-88) is another trio, this time for clarinet, cello, and piano.  So while this work would make a fine companion work to the Brahms clarinet trio the work is unambiguously avant garde in the finest Darmstadt traditions.  It is, at about 30 minutes, the longest piece here and it reflects the further maturity of the composer as he creates another challenging but almost surprisingly satisfying work.

This album serves as a nice way to be introduced to Helmut Lachenmann and to get to know some major new champions of the avant garde.  And one would do well to stay informed about the work being done by this fine new music clarinetist.